Recently, National Community Action Partnership and the American Public Health Agency (APHA) joined forces to publish a new report titled, “Partnering to Advance Health Equity.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “public health is the science and practice of protecting and improving the health of people and communities.” Public health is especially critical to the work of the Community Action Network and our collective quest to “reduce the causes and conditions of poverty” across the nation. And, of particular concern, are the persistent and often mounting inequities in public health along racial lines and among other vulnerable populations including children, seniors, immigrants and refugees, veterans, and the disabled.
This report surveyed several Community Action agencies to spotlight both the successes and challenges our network has encountered in working with public health agencies, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In advocating the need for more formal partnerships between these two groups, the report details frequent barriers to such an arrangement, which include frequent leadership changes, infrastructure issues, and navigating the challenges of competition vs. coordination. Notwithstanding these obstacles, the report suggests that there are real opportunities for the Community Action Network and Public Health agencies nationwide to “come together to improve the health and well-being of the communities they serve. Potential strategies include:
- Addressing the social determinants of health
- Supporting community health improvement processes
- Streamlining and coordinating service provision for maximum impact
- Advancing policy and systems change
For more information and to read a pdf of the full report, please follow this link bit.ly/3NqsJtR. The report also contains important links to the CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
